Lionel Messi finally won the World Cup title that he desperately wanted. For some, it was a trophy that he needed in order to be considered the greatest player of all-time. If that was the only missing piece, the debate is over. By winning the World Cup with Argentina, Messi has elevated his name and all of his accomplishments to unprecedented levels.
Immediately following Sunday’s final, naturally, Messi’s place as the best player ever was a popular topic. Some of the biggest names in sports paid tribute to him on social media, branding Messi everything from “a gift from the footballing Gods,” according to Gary Lineker, to “the best that ever was,” in the words of Alan Shearer for The Athletic. Tennis star Andy Murray asked his followers if Messi should not only be considered the best footballer of all-time, but the best athlete.
A bit of recency bias, no? Remember, Pele won three World Cups with Brazil in 1958, 1962 and 1970. But certainly, there’s nothing more for Messi to achieve in football. He has won four Champions League titles, seven Ballon d’Or awards, 11 league titles with FC Barcelona and Paris Saint Germain, one Copa America, and now, that once elusive World Cup.
In Qatar, Messi scored his 98th goal for Argentina and moved past Gabriel Batistuta to become the nation’s all-time leading scorer at World Cups. Messi’s numbers alone — and his longevity at the top of the sport — are remarkable facts that emphasize his current accolades.
The World Cup trophy also put Messi ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo in the long-standing debate to determine their generation’s best. Surely, there’s nothing else to discuss.
But there is still one other argument to be made.
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Messi’s place alongside Diego Armando Maradona, a player who has been deified for over 30 years in Argentina, remains unsettled. Messi is no longer among the greats to never win a World Cup, and yet, in Argentina, he may never outrun Maradona’s shadow.
Messi has taken Argentina to the summit. He is beloved by millions around the world, and now, finally fully accepted as an Argentine football legend after years of tension, doubts and harsh criticism from fans and media in his homeland.
And yet, there are still some holdouts.
“It’s true, Messi played well, relatively well,” said Hugo ‘El Loco’ Gatti on Spain’s controversial debate show El Chiringuito. Gatti is a former goalkeeper who won 18 caps for Argentina in the 1960s and ‘70s. “I’ve said that for me, (Kylian) Mbappe is the best player in the world with the most potential. They’ll say that I’m anti-Argentina because I call things the way that I see them.”
Gatti’s comments about Messi’s performance in the final were labeled as “ludicrous” by Argentina newspaper La Nacion. The outspoken Gatti played for both River Plate and Boca Juniors and was named Argentina’s footballer of the year in 1982. He was in goal for Boca on November 9, 1980 — the day that Maradona famously put four goals past him in a 5-3 win for Argentinos Juniors.
When he was asked if Messi had surpassed Maradona, Gatti said what so many Maradonians around the world feel about this decades-long discussion.
“First of all, no one will ever top Pele, and here in Argentina, no one will ever top Diego,” claimed Gatti. “I don’t know if I’m telling the truth, but it’s my truth, because of how I lived football, how I played it and what I see now.”
Biases will always exist in Argentina between those who saw Maradona at his peak and those who position Messi as the gold standard. Of course, El Chiringuito is a program that’s notoriously pro-Real Madrid. The show’s hosts and analysts were actively rooting against Messi and Argentina throughout the World Cup.
Ahead of the Argentina/France final, they even forgave Mbappe for spurning Real Madrid over the summer, and begged the French superstar to prevent Messi from winning a World Cup. Personal loyalties have also influenced opinions about Messi and Maradona.
After Argentina defeated Croatia 3-0 in the World Cup semifinal, Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni did not hesitate to put Messi above Maradona.
“(Messi) is the best player of all-time,” Scaloni told reporters. “Sometimes it seems like we say that only because we’re Argentines, like we’re guilty of being selfish by saying that he’s the best player in history, but I believe it. Without a doubt.”
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Those words from Scaloni were blasted by Angel Cappa, a former manager in Argentina for several clubs, and an ex-Barcelona assistant under Argentine legend Cesar Luis Menotti in 1983. In an interview with Spanish outlet Radio Marca before the final, Cappa called Scaloni’s opinion of Messi “exaggerated” and “short sighted.”
“After (Alfredo) Di Stefano, Pele, (Johan) Cruyff and Maradona, then comes Messi, who now wears global football’s fifth crown and he absolutely deserves it,” said Cappa. “I’m sure that Scaloni didn’t see Cruyff, Di Stefano or other players. (Messi) as the best player right now and of this generation, I have no doubts, but of all-time? No, there’s far too much history.”
If based solely on sporting achievements, Messi blows Maradona out of the water. And if we want to compare the two based on who had the better touch, who was faster or who had the more precise left foot, we’ll enter an unremitting zone of subjectivity.
“I believe there is no debate because it’s not apples-to-apples,” Telemundo commentator Andres Cantor told The Athletic. “Diego Maradona played in a different era and a different type of football. On muddy fields. He was hit below the knee, at the knee, he was hit so much and got up. With the quality of pitches that these players play today, Diego would have been the greatest without any discussion.”
Cantor, an Argentine, witnessed Maradona’s dominance in person. He covered the 1986 World Cup in Mexico for Argentina-based magazine El Grafico. Cantor said that he was “thrilled for Messi” and called Messi “the greatest player of our time, now.”
“Diego, to me, because of what I described, was the best of all-time,” he added. “And so was Pele before. I don’t know if anybody wants to debate. You have to contextualize the debate if you’re going to argue who is the best.”
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Maradona symbolized far more for Argentines, and he still does two years after his death. He exemplified their fight against the system, as an activist against the rich and powerful. Maradona was the people’s champion. A captain like no other. His beginnings as a young star in 1979 came during Jorge Rafael Videla’s military dictatorship in Argentina.
Videla’s government reportedly interfered with Barcelona’s intention of acquiring Maradona outright from Argentinos Juniors in 1980. Carlos Alberto Lacoste, a former marine, was one of Videla’s confidants and a key government figure who helped organize the 1978 World Cup in Argentina. He later held a position with FIFA. Together with newly appointed Argentina Football Association president Julio Humberto Grondona, Lacoste established a rule in Argentina that no national team players, or players under 22 years of age, could play abroad.
Maradona would go on to speak out against that regime’s atrocities and disappearances throughout his life. For years, Maradona called out FIFA and CONMEBOL for its corruption, to the delight of his followers in Argentina and around the world.
When U.S. federal prosecutors disclosed a wide-ranging case of corruption against FIFA officials in 2015, Maradona celebrated the news.
“They called me crazy, but thankfully today the truth is out and I am enjoying it,” he said. “When we get to FIFA, not every official should go. The good ones will stay. But the bad ones, I’ll personally kick them all in the ass.”
Maradona’s public battles with drug addiction made him imperfect, but his flaws endeared him even more to the people of Argentina.
Those realities, coupled with his extraordinary skill, made Maradona an untouchable figure in a country that remains severely hampered by economic anguish. In that sense, Maradona has always held sacred ground as a symbol of hope. Argentina glorifies its football stars when they succeed, and devours them ruthlessly when they fail. Maradona made enemies and certainly hit rock bottom as a person, but in the eyes of his countrymen, he always got back up.
There’s even a Church of Maradona, where he is quite literally worshiped. The church has its own set of 10 commandments and reportedly has more than 500,000 followers around the world. It sounds ridiculous but for devout Maradonians, it’s their church of God.
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After he retired in 1997, Maradona never left the spotlight. He was a guest pundit across South America during World Cups, he starred on late night talk shows in Argentina and Italy, and later coached Messi and Argentina at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
Maradona was a showman, a sort of front-man for a band that enamored 45 million Argentines for decades. In Argentina, the Messi or Maradona discussion is often settled by simply saying “Diego es Diego.” And there’s nothing more to it than that.
Within that context, the question is whether Messi will have similar lasting power culturally in Argentina, after he retires and he stops stockpiling goals and trophies. So much of what Messi represents, both in pop culture and in sport, is centered almost exclusively around what he does on a football pitch. He’s relatively mild-mannered and soft-spoken, although in Qatar, Messi had his own Maradona-like moments of rebellion.
Messi taunted Netherlands head coach Louis van Gaal during their heated quarterfinal, celebrating in front of the opposing bench. And from the mixed zone, he hit out again at the Dutch manager.
“Van Gaal says that they play good football, but what he did was put on tall people and hit long balls,” Messi said. He then went further by calling Netherlands center forward Wout Weghorst a fool when the Dutch striker tried to make his way toward Messi after the game to shake his hand.
“What are you looking at, fool?” Messi shouted twice. “Get out of here, fool. Go away.”
Messi’s quote quickly went viral. It landed on T-shirts in Buenos Aires and in Doha. It was representative of Argentina’s confrontational attitude at this World Cup, which Argentina vice president Cristina Kirchner celebrated on Twitter as “Maradonian.”
And that’s what has always followed Messi — a cultural and sporting comparison to the great Maradona. His performances in Argentina were described as Maradona-esque, or more specifically to “Maradonear,” a verb that’s unique to Argentina.
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“Messi is Maradona-ing at this World Cup,” Jorge Valdano said shortly before Sunday’s final. Valdano was a teammate of Maradona’s at the 1986 World Cup in Mexico. He scored in the final when Argentina defeated West Germany 3-2 at the Estadio Azteca.
“(Messi) is demonstrating what the essence of football is,” Valdano continued. “It’s fascinating to watch him right now. He isn’t lacking any energy and he has to maximize every last drop of his talent. If you don’t like Messi, you don’t like football.”
Messi won’t be bothered by this debate. He won’t ever put himself above Maradona publicly, either. He has won his World Cup — a year after winning Copa America, which Maradona never did. Messi is now revered by men, women and children in his native country, just a few years after a Buenos Aires statue of him was repeatedly vandalized in 2016 and 2017, a time when Messi stepped away from the national team amidst growing discontent with the side’s failings.
Argentine reporter Sofia Martinez said it best when she stopped Messi in the Lusail Stadium mixed zone after Argentina’s semifinal win over Croatia: “I just want to tell you that no matter the results, there’s something that no one can take from you, and it’s the fact that you have resonated with Argentines, every single one. You have truly left your mark on everyone’s life, and that to me, that is bigger than winning a World Cup.”
What Messi has always longed for is to be accepted as an Argentine football legend, not the best player of all-time. And now, for millions around the world, Messi es Messi. End of story.
(Photo: Lars Baron/Getty Images)
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